Through the Grapevine
by everlovingdeer
Summary: "Isn't it horrible that Black's friendship with her ended the moment she decided she didn't want to date him? Like he was so willing to spend so much time with her, was able to linger around her so often until the moment she didn't want to date him. And then, in the blink of an eye, she wasn't worth his time? What sort of bullshit is that?"
1. Through the Grapevine

A usual evening in the Slytherin dungeon consisted of students cramming around the fireplace to catch up on everything that had happened throughout the day, or even to forget it. But, for the sixth-year girls, they usually found themselves tucked away in the safety of their dorm, safe away from listening ears. They needed their privacy because, as they themselves admitted, they did have a rather horrendous habit of sticking their noses into things that had absolutely nothing to do with them. Of course, Aniya McGrath would defend herself – and her friends – that they were preparing themselves for their lives outside of Hogwarts. Knowledge was power, and the power one could get from knowing someone's dirty secrets was immense.

The same Aniya was now about to enter her dorm room to hold court amongst the rest of her dormmates. But that would only depend on whether one of the girls was still in the library as the baseline chatter had indicated. Pushing the door to her dorm open, she risked a glance at the bed beside the window, the one that belonged to the only female Malfoy born in generations and she allowed herself a satisfied smile. It was only when Malfoy was away that Aniya could be the one in charge.

"Ladies," she called out on her way to her bed. Setting her bag down on the mattress, she sat cross-legged and waited for the attention that she knew would come her way. And sure enough, the remaining four of her dormmates, instantly stopped what they were doing and looked curiously towards her.

They, of course, knew that she was preparing to share some gossip with them all. But still, as Aniya drew out the dramatic silence, Makena Ayala rolled her eyes. "Get to the point McGrath."

Aniya, knowing better than to make a comment about the other girl's impatience, cast a glance around the room; they were all paying attention to her. Good. Now she could speak. "Guess what I overheard in the library."

" _You_ were in the library," Yuliana scoffed from where she was painting her nails. "Are you sure you didn't get lost?"

"I'm going to ignore your dig, Scott," Aniya said with nothing more than a narrowed eye, "because of what I found out." And knowing that another dramatic pause would get her a pillow thrown in her direction, she explained, "Black broke up with his girlfriend."

The still silence that answered her declaration almost made up for the downright rude reception she'd received initially. Of course, the silence was one that mirrored the silence when they'd found out that Regulus Black was dating someone and that someone _wasn't_ Malfoy. They'd all thrown a hesitant glance towards their dormmate who hadn't so much as looked up from the letter her brother's fiancée had sent her. But they were all certain that she was heartbroken. In fact, Aniya liked to think that Malfoy cried had herself to sleep. Jazlyn was quick to call her on the lie, refusing to hear any slander of the Malfoy girl. Wiggins always _did_ play her card safe, keeping them close to her chest whilst knowing who was really in charge.

This time, much like the last time their dorm had fallen silent after a bombshell of gossip, Makena was the first to speak. "We're all agreed that he broke up with her because of the crush he has on Malfoy, right?" She cast a glance around the room, "Surely none of you bints are stupid enough to think that there's any other explanation?"

"No one is thinking that," Frida assured, giving up on completing the book she was reading. When she realised that everyone's eyes were on her, she justified, "We've never once asked Malfoy how _she_ feels."

"How I feel about what?" the girl herself asked as she pushed the door open, having managed to catch her dormmates in the middle of a conversation that they wished she hadn't heard at all. It seemed to be a rather irritating habit the girl possessed. When Frida didn't answer her, the pureblood princess raised a single eyebrow, "Well, Berg?"

Frida, caught out, looked to her other dormmates for help. Of course, this was perhaps the perfect moment to ask the girl how she really felt about the Black heir and his clearly obvious feelings for her – and really why hadn't his girlfriend broken up with him because of them – but the girl _was_ a Malfoy. The intimidating Malfoy sneer was bred into her and none of the girls liked finding themselves on the receiving end of it.

It was Yuliana who spoke first – and really, all of her dormmates agreed that she would have made a good Gryffindor. Naturally, Yuliana saw it for the insult that it was. "Have you heard the news about Black?"

"Regulus?" Malfoy repeated curiously, her use of his first name not going unnoticed as she reached her bedside and removed her tie from around her neck. Malfoy looked between each of her dormmates, no doubt trying to read the hidden meaning to their words and no doubt succeeding to do so. "Is this about him breaking up with his girlfriend?"

"It is," Jazlyn confirmed with a hesitant nod; was it really going to be so easy to pierce the ice queen's defences?

"Oh that. It seems that the entire house can't stop talking about it." Malfoy rolled her eyes, seeming disappointed that even her dormmates were discussing it as well. The girl had no business knowing that her friends had deflated at her words; of course, it wouldn't be so easy to pry the information from her.

"Do you know why?" Aniya probed right away, ignoring the look Makena shot her way; she didn't own even half of the tact the other girl possessed.

"Who knows." She shrugged, rummaging through her trunk and drawing out her bath towel. "Maybe she was the jealous type." Aniya's mind whirred, trying to understand what Malfoy meant by her words; did that mean Malfoy and Black had been seeing each other behind his girlfriend's back? Had they been having an _affair?_ Oh, how _scandalous._ And how interesting for her. Before she could try to confirm her theory, Malfoy straightened up and look right at her, and from the small smirk at the corner of her lips, she knew exactly what Aniya was thinking. "Now that this conversation is over, I'm going to use the bathroom first. Does anyone need to go?"

Receiving negative answers from all of her dormmates, Malfoy headed into the bathroom. Even still, Aniya couldn't help but narrow her eyes at her retreating back; for her, the conversation was _far_ from over. But of course, once Malfoy clammed up, there would be no more information spilling freely from her guarded lips.

* * *

Naturally, none of the five girls had been able to stop thinking about the news. At first, Aniya had hesitantly brought up her theory that Malfoy and Black had been sneaking to the rest of her dormmates whilst Malfoy had been in the shower. They'd all shot the idea down, even the thought of either of the sixth years sneaking around like that was so … cheap. And yet, yet it was oddly enthralling and part of them enjoyed the secretive thrill they got from thinking it over. And now, even as Jazlyn and Frida sat in their potions lesson, they couldn't help but think of it.

Today they had strategically chosen to sit at a table at the back of the room, the one _right_ behind Black and Malfoy's usual space. The pair _were_ supposed to be working on the potion that Slughorn had assigned them at the beginning of the lesson but had soon given up in favour of watching the show that was going on before them. Of course, their potion was now a bubbling brown sludge that settled on the bottom of the cauldron instead of the milky blue liquid that it was supposed to be. But it wasn't as if they were going to be graded on the potion, so what did it matter?

The two girls were seated together, barely speaking a word where as usually they would have spent the entire lesson talking each other's ears off. But they didn't dare talk today, in case they disturbed Black and Malfoy. The pair were seasoned potion's partners, having paired up from their very first year and continuing to do so at every given opportunity. Now, in their sixth, their teamwork had been fine-tuned. From the moment Slughorn let the class free to begin their brewing, Black had headed off to gather the ingredients whilst Malfoy set up the cauldron and burner on the desk.

Wiggins and Berg watched slightly in awe at their wordless cooperation but had to at least put on a pretence of trying to brew their own potion. Frida started to slowly crush the scarab beetles as Jazlyn kept an eye on the pair in front of them. She propped her hand in her chin, watching for a moment only until she _swore,_ she saw Regulus's hand brush across the table. It moved across the workspace as if in search of something that it found in the form of Malfoy's hand. She couldn't help but take in a deep breath that wound up sounding like a gasp as Black's hand brushed _very pointedly_ over the back of Malfoy's and then settled there, as if it was normal for his hand to be covering her own.

The sound of Jazlyn's gasp was so unexpected that Frida, who had moved to put the crushed beetles into the potion, dropped them in as one large heap, rather than a bit at a time. Not that Frida cared. She stirred the potion just once, wincing a little at the squelching sound the potion made in protest but her eyes were all for the Slytherins in front of them. It took her a moment to figure out why Jazlyn had reacted in such a way but the moment her eyes settled on the hand Black _still_ had on Malfoy's, they practically bugged out of her head.

Both friends shared a very brief look, not wanting to miss a moment. It was good they didn't because if they had looked away for even a bit longer, they wouldn't have seen the way Malfoy retracted her hand from beneath Black's. She pulled it away suddenly, drawing it to her side and Black, as if instantly missing the warmth of her hand, was left to curl his into a fist on the desktop.

"It's not possible," Frida started hesitantly, cutting herself off as if she believed her unfinished thoughts were insane. But still, she leaned in hesitantly towards Jazlyn who already seemed to know what she wanted to say. She persisted anyway. "Is it possible that Malfoy _doesn't_ like him back?"

Jazlyn, not wanting to contemplate that Black's attraction was unrequited, murmured hesitantly, "Doesn't she like him back? Wasn't the entire house talking about Black breaking up with his girlfriend because he likes Malfoy?"

"But that doesn't mean that Malfoy _has_ to like him back," Frida pointed out rightfully.

The two friends settled into a contemplative silence, not knowing whether to feel sorry for Black or to make sure that Malfoy didn't buckle to the pressure and wind up dating him because she felt she was obliged to. Not that anyone could make her do something she didn't want to. But still, the thought stood.

And before they could lose themselves even further, their unattended potion chose that inopportune moment to explode, dousing them both in a thick, brown goo. And even later on, when they returned to the common room, the grapevine would comment that that potion looked less like a potion and more like … faecal remains.

* * *

Not long after the _incidental_ Potion lesson, Frida and Jazlyn returned to their dorm room and confessed _everything_ to the rest of their dormmates. Of course, Malfoy hadn't been included in that discussion. She didn't need to know the way rest of the dorm was abuzz, all trying to see what would happen next. Would there be some big confrontation in the middle of the common room between a disappointed Black and a self-righteous Malfoy? Or would Black's ex-girlfriend come storming up to the Slytherin table in the middle of lunch to deliver a swift hex towards Malfoy, for stealing her man?

It turned out that what happened next wasn't nearly so explosive or dramatic. And it certainly didn't happen in such a public place. No, it had been Yuliana alone who stumbled upon the scene. And even then, it had been purely accidental. She had only been a witness because she needed to get a book to back up one of the references in her essay.

Approaching the Potions section of the library, Yuliana's eyes scanned across the shelves, in search of a particular book written by a particular author. She continued down the shelves, walking deeper towards the lesser visited parts of the library, reading through each of the titles slowly, not wanting to miss it. And then, just as she went to walk even further, she stopped still. She moved back hurriedly, ducking back slightly to make sure that she wasn't seen.

Because not far up ahead were _Malfoy_ and _Black._ Malfoy who was surprisingly allowing herself to be pressed against the bookshelf by Black which was startling enough since she _never_ let anyone so close to her. She had a textbook held in her arms, gathered against her chest and no doubt, if that textbook hadn't been there, the pair of them would have no space between them. Yuliana's mouth parted in surprise, dropping even further when Black reached up to push a strand of Malfoy's hair behind her ear with a fucking gentle smile. The sort of smile everyone doubted he could actually give. Forcing her eyes away from Black and to her dormmate, Yuliana took a moment to study the girl as well as she could from this distance; she knew that if Malfoy really wanted to, she would have easily gotten away from him. Salazar, she'd been known to hex people when they got too close to her. Malfoy was obviously right where she wanted to be.

Yuliana listened out as Malfoy finally pressed a hand to Black's chest and pushed him away. "You're talking rubbish, Black."

"Rubbish?" Black protested incredulously, the corner of his mouth turning up slightly. "I just think you're speaking like that because you agree with me." And Yuliana, her curiosity was so suddenly blown out of proportion, that she wanted to know just what it was that Malfoy was agreeing with. Not that any part of her was left wondering how she could pry that knowledge out from between the girl's tightly zipped lips. But then, before her curiosity could deepen any further, Black asked abruptly, "Did you get invited to the next Slug Club meeting?"

"Yes," she back instantly and despite Yuliana's brows furrowing, despite her knowing what was going to do next, she lingered to find out what would happen next. "But I'm not sure if I want to go. Spending an entire night surrounded by Slughorn's sycophants is the last way I want to spend my day."

"You should go," Black said without a pause, not saying anything else to convince her.

Yuliana didn't need to have Malfoy's ability to see right through everyone else, or Black's uncanny way of understanding the motivation behind someone's, to know that Black wanted Malfoy at the Slug Club. It was more than that; he wanted to _go with her._ And that was more than enough.

Abandoning her search for the textbook – truthfully, she had even forgotten the title of the book she needed – she returned to her table. She needed to get back to the dorm before Malfoy did. She needed to talk to the other girls before Malfoy returned to her change out of her uniform.

Hurrying back to the table where Yuliana had left her papers strewn around in every direction, she packed everything as quickly as possible. Making sure the lid of her inkwell was screwed tightly shut, she pushed it back into the depths of the bag and then shot one final glance back towards the Potions section where she was certain that Malfoy and Black were still getting cosy.

Adjusting her bag on her shoulder, Yuliana walked quickly out of the library. She took every shortcut she knew to get to the common room in record time and then upon finally, finally entering the dungeon, her eyes went to the sofas where almost all of her dormmates were sitting and talking. Yuliana approached them on legs that were beginning to ache from having walked so briskly and stop briefly beside them.

"Dorm room," she managed, " _Now_."

She didn't wait for them to follow her, knowing that their curiosity would get the better of them. Alighting the stairs to the dorm, she was the first to reach the safety of her dorm. Throwing her bag onto her mattress and sitting to ease the strain on her legs, Yuliana looked to the door and waited. Not that she had to wait long.

Aniya, the nosiest of the bunch, was the first to walk through the door. But Yuliana, wanting to force her to wait if only to enjoy the way the ugly red splattered across her cheeks, swung her legs and bade her time until the rest of the girls walked into the room. Frida was the last to walk in, shutting the door behind her and pressing her back to it. If Malfoy was going to walk in, they were going to know about it _before_ it was too late.

"Black asked Malfoy to the Slug Club," she confessed slowly and Yuliana watched the way her confession took effect on all of her dormmates.

Aniya turned a _very_ satisfying shade of puce green as the rest of the girls approached her for more details. They would need a plan, would need some way to make sure that they knew what was going to happen next. There was no answer until slowly, Jazlyn turned her eyes towards Frida, Frida who had been asked, by one of the Slug Club members, to go along with him as his date.

The girl shook her head abruptly, "No, no way. I already told him no. I can't possibly go back and tell him I changed my mind!"

* * *

Frida _did_ go back to the boy that asked her – a seventh year Hufflepuff named something Evans – and went through the embarrassing spectacle of taking back her refusal. Thankfully her dormmates had arranged everything so she didn't wind up making a show of herself in front of the entire school. And they had shockingly overestimated the amount of pride that the Hufflepuff would have, thinking he would refuse to take her. But he didn't. It was all too easy to get him to agree. Some Puffs really had no self-respect.

And yet here she was, acting as a date to one such Puff who continued to trail after her as she walked around the room. Evans continued to talk behind her as Frida's eyes persistently completed repeated sweeps of the room, in search of Malfoy and Black. There was no sign of them as of yet.

Frida started slightly at the touch on her elbow, looking instantly towards Evan's arm and arching an eyebrow slightly. He was quick to remove his hand, holding it up defensively as he asked, "Is something wrong? It looks like you're looking for something or … or someone?"

Salazar, why were Hufflepuffs so easy to read? Evans was certain she was looking for someone – another boy. He really believed she was here with him, to what? To make this fictional person jealous?

"Malfoy," she murmured eventually, making note of the way Evan's featured evened out. Merlin, he really had been jealous. The poor sod. "I'm looking for Malfoy."

"You're friends with her, right?" Evans asked, suddenly smiling more freely and Salazar, if that wasn't a little butterfly-inducing. She cleared her throat, hurrying away before he could notice that anything was wrong. He followed her step for step, wondering aloud, "Malfoy is probably busy with Regulus."

"Regulus," she repeated his use of Black's first name, looking at Evans with suddenly considering eyes. She had been in the same house as Black for six years now, but still she only addressed him with his family name. How could she have forgotten the rather unusual friendship Black had with Evans? Frida's date met her eyes, wondering the reason behind her sudden attention. "You're friends with Black, right? Does he mention her?"

"Why are you so curious about that?" Evans shot back, watching as Frida's eyes were once again looking around the room. And there they were! She spied Black standing beside Malfoy, the pair of them turned towards each other, talking as if no one else was in the room. There was definitely something there, something hidden and unnoticed, but not yet labelled.

Realising that she hadn't answered the question, Frida justified, "I just want to make sure that he does good by my friend. Malfoy doesn't easily open up and it would be a shame for her to open up for the wrong person."

"She's your friend and yet you call her by her surname," he said with a teasing smile, placated by her reasoning. "How about I leave you to your people watching whilst I get us some drinks?"

"Please," she murmured with a relieved smile.

The moment Evans turned away, Frida's eyes were drawn to where she last saw Malfoy and Black, only to find them gone. Her eyes searched them out quickly, not wanting to lose sight of the pair and she almost left her place, to actually physically look for them. But she caught herself, finally spying them as they walked to the edge of the room. Black had Malfoy's hand in his, easily drawing her through the room and leaving her to follow after him step for step. There was something there, something she could see from all the way over here. No doubt he was going to ask her out! Frida was so certain of it that she was willing to stake her spell casting hand! Maybe she would need to get a closer look to make sure that –

"Frida," Evans said suddenly, coming towards her and holding out a glass. Frida sent one final look over her shoulder towards Black and Malfoy who had somehow managed to avoid Slughorn's snooping eyes and disappeared into the corner talking about who knew what. And despite knowing that she should have been paying attention to the pair of them, that she needed to give a report back to her dormmates, she turned all of her attention back towards Evans who continued to look at her with those damned puppy dog eyes.

She took the drink with a grateful smile, knowing that she would get a telling off from Aniya but not caring. For now, she was going to satisfy herself by getting a little more acquainted with Evan's eyes.

* * *

In the week following on from the Slug Club meeting, all of Malfoy's dormmates had kept an eye on the pair of them, wanting to know what had happened after Black had _so obviously_ asked Malfoy out. But they couldn't bring it up, they didn't dare ask her about it in the first place because in the best case she would tell them it was none of their business and in the worst case, she would hex Aniya. And why would it be Aniya? Because only Aniya would be stupid enough to try and force details of Malfoy's personal life out from her heavily sealed lips.

Their week of surveillance, of finding absolutely _nothing,_ came to a still when the dormmates – minus Malfoy, of course – gathered themselves in the common room. The younger years had all been sent up to bed with the explicit instruction that if they thought of sneaking down into the common room then they would be covered in boils that would last for _months._ The older boys had all snuck down into Hogsmeade to get a drink or a few and so the seventh years and sixth year girls had been left alone in the common room, congregating around the fireplace. The seventh years were busy talking between themselves about something that only they found important. But the sixth years, the sixth years were another matter altogether. _They_ were talking about something that was really important. Something that they could only discuss during this moment of utmost secrecy.

Makena, sitting cross-legged in front of the fireplace and plaiting her hair by hand, took a quick glance around the room and did a mental count of the heads. Deciding it was safe, she let out a sigh before despairing with a sigh, "Have you noticed how Malfoy and Black have rarely been seen together? This past week they haven't been anywhere near each other and Salazar, if that isn't a sign of the coming apocalypse then I don't know what is."

"Since Malfoy isn't here," Aniya started, getting comfortable and crossing her legs where she was sitting on the sofa, "let's discuss this and come up with an idea."

"An idea for _what_ exactly?" Frida asked with a scoff, narrowing her eyes at Aniya. "And who are we to be doing any of this?"

"We don't have a say," Jazlyn agreed, reaching a hand out to pat Frida's knee reassuringly, "but surely it's our duty as friends to make sure she's not crying her eyes out somewhere."

"Malfoy isn't the sort to cry her eyes out anywhere," Yuliana pointed out, not that her dormmates were going to listen. They were all too busy giving themselves more importance in Malfoy and Black's courtship than they really had.

"Surely we understand what this means," Jazlyn pointed out again. "Since they haven't even spoken to each other for a week now, isn't it obvious? She's quite obviously said no to him and he's gone and fucked off like an utter plonker."

"Of course," Aniya agreed slowly and if she was sad for Black, the smile lingering at the corner of her lips quite clearly suggested otherwise. "That's why they've been keeping away from each other. Why they haven't even spoken to each other!"

"You're honestly unbelievable," Frida said with a scoff, rolling her eyes when Aniya scowled in her direction. She didn't bother to speak to Aniya and instead spoke slowly, to the rest of her dormmates, "Isn't it horrible that Black's friendship with her ended the moment she decided she didn't want to date him? Like he was so willing to spend so much time with her, was able to linger around her so often until the moment she didn't want to date him. And then, in the blink of an eye, she wasn't worth his time? What sort of bullshit is that?"

"Yet somehow I'm not surprised," Yuliana murmured with a sigh, saying aloud what the majority of the girls were thinking. "What else can you expect from a bloody man – no a boy really?"

"Definitely a boy," Makena agreed, tying off the end of her plait. "I refuse to think of the boys in our year as men."

There was a murmured agreement from all of the girls who struggled not to fall into a regretful silence. And they would have been such a _perfect_ couple. If only things had worked out –

Aniya cleared her throat sharply, getting all of her dormmates to look at her. Without a word, she silently gestured towards Malfoy who entered the common room after having completed her rounds. Most of the girls shared a look, silently agreeing to bury the topic. And at least that was what they'd thought but when Malfoy promised to return after glancing into her pyjamas, Aniya couldn't help herself.

"Should we ask her?" she said hesitantly, looking between the girls who were all shaking their head incredulously. None of the girls wished to open that particular can of worms.

And so, when Malfoy came down to join the girls, they pointedly spoke of something else. They didn't even mention Black. Not even when the boys returned from their abrupt trip into Hogsmeade and not even when Black walked right past where they were seated to join the rest of his dormmates where they were sitting. He hadn't even _looked_ towards Malfoy! Aniya, clearly noticing it, wanted to make a comment but was forcefully silenced by Yuliana casting a wordless silencing charm. She would have to keep quiet for a little longer.

* * *

Not long after, almost all of the sixth year Slytherin girls had gathered in the great hall for breakfast. And despite it being all they spoke of for the last few days, they _still_ continued to discuss the situation between Malfoy and Black. If it came to it, and they had to pick sides, they were all fairly certain that they would take Malfoy's side. Or rather … most of them were certain that they would take their dormmate's side.

"It's unfortunate," Makena began, buttering a slice of toast before reaching for the jam. "Because of this Malfoy has had to lose one of her dearest friends. And Salazar himself knows that the girl doesn't let people so close to her so easily."

"It's not her fault," Yuliana pointed out truthfully, gaining encouraging nods from her the girls around her. "It's hardly her fault that Black decided to go and develop a crush on her. Merlin, these bloody pureblood heirs are so entitled that he probably thought that she would accept him without even thinking about it."

"And you can only blame that on their parenting," Jazlyn pointed out as if they themselves haven't been raised in almost exactly the same manner.

Following Jazlyn's words, they all fell silent as they lost themselves in thoughts. More often than not, they would all get back to having these conversations once again. There was really a surprising lack of interesting things going on in their lives at the moment. Somehow, the burgeoning relationship or not so burgeoning relationship between Malfoy and Black was the most interesting thing going on in the entirety of the school.

"Has anyone actually spoken to Malfoy?" Aniya asked abruptly, successfully bringing all of her dormmates from their thoughts.

"Are you insane?" Frida asked, rolling her eyes. Picking at her eggs, she narrowed her eyes across the table at her dormmate, "I thought we've gone over this _way too many times._ She's not going to be willing to share anything."

"But how do we know that?" Aniya insisted, slamming her mug down with more force than necessary. "We've never once asked her that. So why are we making these assumptions?"

"Even if it is an assumption," Yuliana started, stopping the brewing argument coming between the par of them, "Aniya you wouldn't be the one to ask her because you're too scared of being hexed by her!"

"Maybe we could ask Black?" Jazlyn started slowly, uncertainly.

And, as if remembering that asking _him_ was an option, the girls looked across the Slytherin table as if to seek out the Slytherin. Yes, Black had the most horrendous habit of over-smarting and out-mouthing everyone, then maybe having _five_ people approaching him would be enough to get something out of the elusive male. Then again, maybe not.

" _Guys_ ," Makena called sharply, stopping anymore wondering. She was instantly pointing towards the now open doors of the great hall despite knowing that it was bad manners.

They all turned to her, wanting to know what was wrong but she didn't meet their eyes. She didn't even look away and instead, she gestured for them all to follow her gaze. Slowly they did, mouth parting in surprise at what they saw.

Malfoy and Black … Black and Malfoy … and they were walking into the great hall _hand in hand._

"Wait, wait," Aniya started, speaking quickly and clearly not knowing how she was going to end her sentence. "Tell me you see what I'm seeing."

"Clearly," Frida shot back. "But I thought she said no? I thought we all _agreed_ that she'd said no?"

"When did that happen?" Yuliana struggled to understand. "How did absolutely none of us notice when this happened?"

None of the girls had an answer for any of the questions. They were all just as confused as each other. And they were _all_ unable to lift their eyes from the couple walking towards the Slytherin table as if they hadn't noticed the way everyone was chattering aloud and struggling to hide their downright shock at what they were seeing. Of course, everyone had considered this to be an inevitability and yet, yet it was just as shocking. Salazar, how did they manage to keep it all under wraps.

"When did this happen?" Aniya protested, repeating Yuliana's question, as the couple walked even closer towards the table, getting ready to take a seat beside their friends.

"Stop _talking_!" Makena hissed, elbowing her roughly and forcing her into silence.

Together, the five dormmates watched as the couple joined them at the table. Black even waited for Malfoy to sit first and dropped a kiss to the top of her head before he took a seat. Yuliana _might_ have squealed slightly under her breath, covering it up with a cough.

"Good morning," Black greeted the girls as if he was a _regular_ at their breakfast table.

"Morning," they struggled to repeat after him. Salazar, they were _still_ reeling.


	2. Epilogue: 5 Years Later

_5 YEARS LATER_

It was the first time since Voldemort had disappeared off the face of the earth, that the six former dormmates reunited all at once. The first time since they had all left Hogwarts. They had since all gone on to do different things, some of them worked, most of them didn't, some of them had gotten married, some of them hadn't. And one of them had gone on to become the lady of the Black household, switching one aristocratic surname out for another.

All six now sat together in the drawing-room, catching up on all they had missed in the last few years. Frida – now bearing the surname Evans, had even brought her newborn son along with her. The young wizard remained sleeping snugly in the arms of one of his godmothers as his mother breathed freely, having finally left her home since his birth.

"Kreacher," Black finally called out when they reached a natural pause in the conversation. She glanced for a moment over her shoulder and the five other women waited, not knowing for what. Not that they needed to wait long. There was a small snapping sound as a house-elf appeared in the space where Black had been looking. He turned eagerly towards his mistress, waiting for some instruction. "Can we have some tea, please?"

The house-elf, eager to please, disappeared just as quickly as it arrived and once again the conversation picked up. The mistress of the house was yet to join the conversation, instead, she was enamoured with the slight bundle held gently in her arms. She peered down at her godson with a fond smile, brushing a gentle fingertip over the slope of his nose.

Makena, the first to notice her silence, asked, "When are you and Regulus planning on having one?"

The focus of the question removed her finger instantly as if caught guiltily and shook her head. "Not for a while yet – regardless of what Regulus might believe."

"I would put it off if I were you," Frida encouraged as Kreacher finally returned. The tea was placed on the coffee table before the house-elf disappeared once again. As Frida helped herself to some tea, her friends couldn't help but share a knowing glance over her head; Evans despite his repeatedly proposing, only managed to get a yes from their friend when he had managed to put a babe within her. By the time Frida straightened up again, they wiped their features clean and nodded sagely as she continued, "Even _with_ a nanny elf on hand to help, my nights are ruined."

"Maybe that will be enough to put Regulus off for a while," she murmured, turning her eyes back to her godson.

"Speaking of Regulus," Aniya began slowly as if she had been waiting for the opportunity. No doubt, she _had_ been lying in wait and biding her time until she could finally find out the answer to her curiosity, "Just when did the pair of start to date?"

"Us?" Black considered for a moment as if struggling to recall the real date. "Sometime towards the end of our fifth year."

" _Fifth_ year?" Yuliana insisted incredulously, "But wasn't he dating that Ravenclaw chit? The one that's taken a string of women lovers since?"

"I never dated her," Regulus insisted, having returned from whatever plans he'd had for the day. He shrugged out of the outer layer of his robes, pushing his sleeves up slightly a heading straight for his wife. Perching on the arm of her chair, he dropped a kiss to her forehead before readily accepting his godson. He pressed a familiar kiss to the sleeping child's hair before addressing the women in the room, "We simply pretended. By claiming to date, me, she could conceal where her real interests lay until she was comfortable enough to proclaim it to the world."

"And – and you consented to this insanity?" Jazlyn said, clearly struggling to understand. Her eyes pinned her old friend to the spot and the now Mrs Black gave a slight smile and nodded.

"Yes, I did." The incredulity on her friend's faces prompted a laugh from the witch. "Really, I had no problem with it. The longer everyone spent thinking that he and that Ravenclaw were dating, the less scrutiny there was on our relationship. And well, if I ended breaking up with him, then I wouldn't have to put up with nosey people trying to force their way into my business."

She gave her friends a pointed look when they shuffled guiltily in their seats. Had they really expected her not to know about their naturally inquisitive nature and the way it had the most horrendous habit of focusing on her? It only needed to happen twice before she realised that they changed conversations when they saw her walking towards them. Really, it didn't take a genius to figure out that they were talking about her .

From his perch, Regulus nudged her as he teased, "I knew there was a reason you agreed to it."

"Of course, there was a reason," she rolled her eyes, draping an arm over her husband's thigh. "I outright stated my reasoning to you and it's hardly my fault if you don't pay attention, Regulus."

"I pay attention to everything you say," Regulus insisted, brushing his thumb soothingly over the swell of his wife's cheek.

"Liar," she threw back with a teasing smile.

Regulus's own smile softened in response. "Never."

The coupled continued with their toing and froing, not noticing the way the other five women in the room were glancing between the pair of them as if they had both grown another eye. Certainly, they had witnessed couples doing much worse, much more intimate things and those couples hadn't been bound by marriage. But still, somehow watching as this usually reclusive couple squabbled playfully with one another and occasionally reached out towards the other, felt much more intimate than any acts of affection they'd witnessed from other couples. It felt so very wrong to remain sitting across from them as they'd intruded in their bedroom or something. Salazar, it was strange.


End file.
